A Glitzy Plastic Coffee Cup – Worth Its Weight in Gold

January 29, 2018

A Glitzy Plastic Coffee Cup – Worth Its Weight in Gold

Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.

Galatians 6:6

Read: Galatians 6:6-10

When I read today’s passage, I remembered an incident from one of my mission trips to Mexico. It was a Sunday evening, and we were several miles south of Matamoros at a medical mission outpost. As I talked with our host pastor before the service began, we could see a woman from his congregation walking toward the church. The pastor told me she walked five miles, each way, to attend services. In her hand was a bundle of cactus leaves, a green bean like plant that was a staple of their rural diet. As she greeted her pastor she presented him with the food. Clearly she understood Paul’s teaching: “Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher” (Galatians 6:6 NRSV). However, Paul’s teaching about the Christian’s responsibility to provide for the support of their pastoral teachers and ministers has been pretty much lost in our generation. That’s not to say ministers are not fairly paid. It’s not uncommon for clergy to receive compensation packages that include retirement funding, medical insurance and expense accounts in addition to salary. But between the person in the pew and the pastor stand committees and councils and boards, which means the typical parishioner has little, if any, sense of personal responsibility for sharing in all good things with their teacher.

My Takeaway: I was truly blessed by the generosity and thoughtfulness of my congregations. One of my cherished gifts is a glitzy plastic coffee mug that is ¾ filled with pennies. It was given to me on my retirement by a woman living in an assisted living facility and was truly her widow’s mite. It is worth its weight in gold to me. It is precious memories like this that inspire me to honor Paul’s closing caution: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2018 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.